(DIRECTOR, she/her/they/them) is a queer director and writer based in Brooklyn. They are a recent winner of the Opera America Tobin Director-Designer prize and a Visiting Artist at Duke, Rutgers & Arcadia University. This spring, they are directing a new world premiere for La Jolla Playhouse’s WOW Fest. www.katherinewilkinson.com
(PRODUCER, she/her) is a digital and theatrical Creative Producer. After graduating from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in Acting and a minor in Africana Studies, she shifted her focus to develop new projects that speak to the spectrum of stories from the African Diaspora. Ayana was the inaugural Producing Fellow with New York Theater Workshop’s 2050 Administrative Fellowship. Afterwards, she went on to freelance produce shows throughout New York City. Some of her producing credits include Joan with Colt Coeur, Tender Napalm at HERE Arts Center, Saints of Failure, a solo show performed in Fort Greene’s Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, and NY Times Critic’s Pick Eureka Day with Colt Coeur. She has also served as Creative Producer at Checkmark Productions for the past two years developing the work of the theater industry’s most exciting emerging artists and is currently the Manager of Artistic Production at MCC Theater.
is an actor, dancer and singer born and raised in Baltimore, MD.She is a proud alumna of the Baltimore School for the Arts and NYU Tisch Drama. She recently made her Broadway debut in Chicken and Biscuits, originating her role as Simone at Circle in the Square Theatre. Regional: Scraps at Flea Theater (Aisha), Chicken and Biscuits at Queens Theatre (Simone). Off-Broadway: What To Send Up When It Goes Down (Three) at A.R.T./New York Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, American Repertory Theater, the Public Theater, and BAM, respectively. Film/TV credits: “After Class” starring Justin Long and “FBI: Most Wanted” on CBS.
is an actor, singer and dancer born and based in brooklyn. For the past decade she has collaborated and created work in nyc and abroad with Obie award winning 600 Highwaymen, Nellie Tinder, Limited Liability Theater Company and Juliana F. May. Upcoming: Family Happiness (Chocolate Factory). Recent film credits include Simchas and Sorrows, Together Together, The Plagiarists and MGMT “When you Die” music video.
is an actor, writer and artist born and raised in Plainfield, NJ. He holds an MFA in Acting from Columbia University and is the founder of Bridge to Reality, a nonprofit geared towards increasing the presence of people of color in the arts through the mentorship of high school students of color(www.bridgetoreality.org). Also the Co-creator of The Cuttin Room Floor, a web series that uses parody and discussions to explore the cultural impact of cult classics (www.thecuttinroomfloor.com).Film: Beauty (Written by Lena Waithe Dir. Andrew Dosunmu) When They See Us (Dir. Ava DuVernay). TV: “For Life”, “Bull”, “Blindspot”, “Blacklist”. www.aaronsmorton.com
Coming from a rich legacy of Black theater starting in the 1970’s, Niambi performed throughout the Midwest in plays such as, Tambourines to Glory, Five on The Black Hand Side, Who’s Got His Own, and even You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. After being nominated by the Encore Awards for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ (Musical) for her portrayal of ‘Zarita’ in Simply Heavenly, and then winning the Encore Award for Best Actress (Musical) for ‘Lutiebelle’ in Purlie!, Niambi came to New York after recording and touring as a lead and back-up vocalist with 24 Carat Black and soul-music greats at Stax Records (1973-1975).
Niambi was steered into her first New York theatrical appearance by Ed Bullins (in residence at that time with Joe Papp’s Public Theater) via The Hotel Play, written by Wallace Shawn, at La Mama Etc., (1981). Niambi has continued to perform steadily in New York theaters— from The Heckscher Theater, where she was a “Choir Member” in the first run of Mama I Want To Sing, starring Desiree Coleman, (1983), to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe’s production of “Billy, Lena, And The Duke“, (2011). She was nominated for 2014 Best Actress Musical for her portrayal of “Brenda” in That ‘L’ Word at the John Chatterton 2014 Winter Play Festival in New York.
Niambi appeared in two plays by poet, Mari Evans, River Of My Song (1977) and Eyes, the latter directed by Woodie King, Jr., (1995); Niambi consequently appeared in his New Federal Theater production of Satchel: A Requiem For Racism (2008).
Niambi has worked in numerous Harlem-based community outreach productions with playwright, J. E. Franklin, under the direction, guidance, and tutelage of the Audelco Award- Winning Director, Eric Coleman. Her arts-based community involvement also includes the New York Theater Workshop, Negro Ensemble Company Repertory, Harlem Arts Alliance, Kumble Theater and the Frank Silvera Writer’s Workshop where she is consistently relied upon as an excellent cold reader for new playwrights and was an integral part of its Reader’s Theater at the National Black Theater Festival (2007).
She has performed in Harlem with new playwrights at the Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture, Abysinnian Baptist Church, and at the Salvation Army, with its annual Grandparent’s Around the World Production of Dinner At Grandma’s (2006-2011), reprising her portrayal of beloved Sista Lula for five years.
Herself a playwright, she has had her works read at the National Black Theatre Festival (2007) and the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival (2012).
Niambi was featured in the first video of Heavy D, Mr. Big Stuff, directed by The Hudlin Brothers (1987); she previously appeared in Krush Groove (1985). Her film credits also include It’s Hard To Be Joe Strummer, directed by Antonio Giosue’ (2012), Nu Moses directed by Cassady O’Neal (2013), Brother, directed by Frank Hooker & Piruz Alemi (2013), Trapped Girl, written by Katherine Fordham (2013, IMDb) Appassionato, written/directed by Bradley Evans, and Airport Run, written/directed by Eliana Ujueta, (both 2016).
Besides touring with Stax Records, Niambi recorded on various labels including Sugarhill, with jazz legend, Brother Jack Mcduff (‘Kisses’, ‘Having A Good Time’, 1982); performing with him at jazz clubs in New York, Chicago, Memphis, and Los Angeles, to name a few. She also composed original music and lyrics which she performed with rock band ‘Fierce Jones’ (aka THE HEAT) at now defunct 1980’s venues The Cat Club and CBGB’s, New York and The Pan Asian Music Festival at Lincoln Center Damrosch Bandshell (1984).
More recently, Niambi won a 2020 Audelco Award for being a member of the Outstanding Ensemble Performance of Sassy Mamas at Black Spectrum Theatre.
Niambi’s most enduring accomplishment is being a mother of two, grandmother of five, great grandmother of six, and only child to her dear mother, Mrs. Lucille Ford Taplin Smith of Indianapolis, Indiana, where her musical and theatrical journey began.
(she/her) is a NYC based lighting designer and teaching artist. Her designs have been seen at The Wild Project, Dixon Place, Access Theater, Arts on Site, LPAC Rough Draft Festival, and NY Fringe Festival, among others. Judy also teaches lighting programming and design at a number of regional high schools and colleges. Select recent projects include: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Emerson Jr/Sr High School), Fiddler on the Roof (Livingston High School), and Pippin (Friends Seminary, 14th St Y) This summer she will lighting the new musical, History of Traitors According to Sydney by Parade Stone and Sequoia Sellinger, produced through the Shubert’s The Artistic Circle program. JudyAKagel.com
is excited to be a part of this new play festival! Emily’s stage management credits include: Tour: Bandstand First National Tour, RENT 20th Anniversary International Tour. NYC: Sleep No More, Tribeca Film Festival, Times Square Alliance. Regional: Other World (Delaware Theatre Company), Everything Is Wonderful, Byhalia, Mississippi, 20th Century Blues, The Wedding Gift, On Clover Road, Uncanny Valley (Contemporary American Theatre Festival), Cry It Out, I Now Pronounce, The 39 Steps (Actors Theatre of Louisville). BFA Emerson College.
(she/her) is thrilled to be working at WP for the first time. She is a NYC based stage manager and director and is passionate about developing new work. Recent Stage Management credits include: His Story Development (dir. Jeff Calhoun), The Real Gemma Jordan (dir. Portia Kreiger), White Woman Black Boy (dir. Austin Pendleton). Proud graduate of the University of Michigan. Always for Supah.
(Playwright) Julia’s work has been developed and presented at MTC, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Bushwick Starr, WP Theater, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Seattle Rep, The COOP, NNPN/Kennedy Center MFA Playwrights’ Workshop, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Williamstown, CAATA’s National Asian-American Theatre ConFest, and Pork Filled Productions. Awards and honors: OPC Dr. Kerry English Award, O’Neill’s National Playwriting Conference Finalist, Kilroys List Honorable Mention, and KCACTF’s Darrell Ayers Playwriting Award. She is a current New Dramatists Resident. Current commissions: True Love Productions, MTC/Sloan, Playwrights Horizons. MFA: Brown University juliaizum.com
(Director) Credits: Head Over Heels (Pasadena Playhouse), Hurricane Diane (Huntington Theatre), Now Becomes Then (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Men on Boats (Baltimore Center Stage), Speechless (New Blue Man Group North American Tour), The Tempest (The Juilliard School), Between Us: The Deck of Cards (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Public Theater Mobile Unit), Burn All Night (American Repertory Theatre), Theatre for One: In This Moment (Pershing Square Signature Center), Instant SPKRBOX (SPKRBOX Festival commission, Norway), Bars and Measures (B Street Theatre), Gimme Shelter (Why Not Theatre, Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games commission), Theatre for One: I’m Not the Stranger You Think I Am (Arts Brookfield), A Sucker Emcee (National Black Theatre, LAByrinth Theater Company, SPKRBOX Festival, Norway), Queen of the Night (Diamond Horseshoe Nightclub, Drama Desk Award), The Odyssey Project 2012 (site-specific NYC). She has been an artist in residence at Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and The Invisible Dog Art Center, and has developed new work at Steppenwolf, Roundabout, and New Black Fest, among others. Jenny is a Lilly Award recipient and proud member of the SDC.
(WRITER, she/her) is a playwright whose plays advocate for a shared humanity. Plays include How to Gild An Eagle (Finalist, Columbia@Roundabout New Play Reading Series; Semi-Finalist, National Playwrights Conference; Semi-Finalist, Athena Project); Return to Fall (Finalist, Blue Ink Playwriting Award; Semi-Finalist, National Playwrights Conference; Semi-Finalist, Bay Area Playwrights Festival); To Raqqa With Love (International Human Rights Arts Festival 2021); Cost (Climate Change Theatre Action Commission 2021); Being in Time (International Human Rights Arts Festival 2019); How Did the Cat Get So Fat? (nominated Best Play, Life! Theatre Awards, Singapore); Yusof (Festival Commission, Pesta Raya, Singapore). For five years, Zizi was the Artistic Director of Teater Ekamatra (Singapore), successfully breaking into the mainstream during her tenure, tripling audiences and garnering multiple awards. She received the Young Artist Award from National Arts Council of Singapore for extraordinary contributions to Singapore theatre. Currently, an Instructor of Drama at Syracuse University she received her MFA from Columbia University, where she was also a fellow of the International Fellows Program at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.
(DIRECTOR, she/her)is thrilled to be back at WP Theater working with Zizi and Kristin on this beautiful play. She is a New York based director of primarily new work for the stage. Off Broadway credits include Sell/Buy/Date, Regrets and Pumpgirl (Manhattan Theatre Club); Indian Summer, Fly By Night, Great God Pan, After the Revolution (Callaway Award), Essential Self Defense (Playwrights Horizons); Arlington (Vineyard); In a Dark Dark House (MCC Theater); Something You Did (Primary Stages); The Talls (Second Stage); Core Values (Ars Nova); Orange Flower Water and Stone Cold Dead Serious (Edge Theater), and EVE-olution (Cherry Lane). Selected Regional credits include: Good Boys (Pasadena Playhouse), Sell Buy Date and Rabbit Hole (Garland Award) and The Violet Hour (Old Globe), After the Revolution, Not Waving and King Stag (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Vera Laughed and Get What You Need (NYS&F), and Diary of Anne Frank (Papermill). Carolyn has received the Boris Sagal and Bill Foeller Fellowships from Williamstown, a Drama League Directing Fellowship and the Seldes-Kanin Fellowship from the Theatre Hall of Fame. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the mother of two daughters.
(PRODUCER, she/her) served as the Director of New Works at Seattle Repertory Theatre, and, prior to that post, the Literary Manager at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, among others. She has freelanced as an artist with the O’Neill Theater Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Play On Shakespeare, Arizona Theatre Company, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Primary Stages, Classical Stage Company, the Playwrights’ Center, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater, Village Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, The Lark, The Kennedy Center, The Old Globe, the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Victory Gardens Theater, American Theatre Company, Collaboraction, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, New Repertory Theatre, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Galway Arts Festival, Teatro Luna, Teatro Vista (artistic associate), Steep Theatre Company (ensemble), A Red Orchid Theatre, and Shakespeare & Company (Artistic Consultant), among others. She is an Assistant Professor, Dramatic Literature & Dramaturgy at Boston University and holds a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin. She is a 2021 recipient of a Fulbright.
– born in London and raised in Lebanon- is an actress based in New York City. She trained in Method acting for one year and in the Meisner technique for two years at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio, where she was honored as class speaker for her graduating class. Raised by filmmaker-parents, Hana knew she belonged in the world of film from an early age. She discovered her passion for acting in Beirut on the set of her father’s film, In The Shadows of the City (2000), where she made her feature film debut at the age of five. At 21, Hana had a formative experience acting in 3000 Nights (2015), filmed in Jordan, where she also worked closely as an advisor to the director. Since moving to New York, Hana has starred in the acclaimed short film Salam (2018), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and has appeared on the Emmy Award-winning show Ramy (2020). She also has leading roles in the Netflix Original show Jinn (2018) and the TV show Medinah (2017). Hana is grateful to be working with WP and these incredible women on bringing this beautiful play to life.
is a bicoastal actress and thrilled to be working with WP. A three-time Drama Desk Award nominee, she is passionate about new works and has developed with many Broadway and Off-Broadway companies. Recent theater highlights include: American Fast (Denver Center New Play Summit, Marti Lyons), Wintertime (Berkeley Rep, Les Waters) Seascape (A.C.T, Pam Mackinnon, BACC nomination), Sweat (A.C.T., Loretta Greco), We Swim We Talk We Go To War, (Golden Thread Productions, Evren Odchikin), Swimmers (Marin Theatre Company, Mike Donahue; Theatre Bay Area Award nomination), No One Is Forgotten (Rattlestick, Winter Miller) and Water by the Spoonful (The Old Globe, directed by Edward Torres). Film + TV credits include: The Surrogate, FBI, For Life, 13 Reasons Why, Succession, Danny DeVito’s Curmudgeons She is a proud graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of The Arts and a member of LAByrinth Theater Company
is an actor, writer and Founding Artistic Director of the Obie-winning company Noor Theatre, dedicated to the work of theater artists of Middle Eastern descent. Lameece has appeared in several regional and off-Broadway theater productions, including The Fever Chart and Stuff Happens (Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble) at the Public Theatre, The Black Eyed at New York Theatre Workshop and Noura at The Old Globe, among several others. She recently appeared in Mike Mosallam’s critically acclaimed film Breaking Fast. Lameece is also an accomplished audiobook narrator having narrated Saudi Arabian author Manal Al-Sharif’s timely autobiography, Daring to Drive and most recently, The Magical Reality of Nadia, co-written by The Daily Show’s Bassem Youssef. As a playwright, she’s written various short plays produced in The New York Arab-American Comedy Festival; as well as Noor & Hadi Go to Hogwarts (Theater Breaking Through Barriers, Golden Thread Theater); and Nooha’s List, part of the compilation play, Motherhood Outloud (Hartford Stage, The Geffen and Primary Stages). Her full length play Food and Fadwa, 2011 recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, premiered off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, a production she co-produced and starred in, and in which Variety magazine praised her performance as “stunning.” Food and Fadwa was a part of the Arab Voices Festival in both Abu Dhabi and Beirut and was published in the anthology “Contemporary Plays By Women of Color,” second edition. She also co-wrote the feature film Abe, directed by Fernando Grostein Andrade, and starring Stranger Things’ Noah Schnapp, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. She is currently developing her solo play, A Good Day to Me, Not to You, a fictionalized story based on her time living in a woman’s rooming house run by nuns. Lameece is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. 2016 NYFA Finalist in Playwriting/Screenwriting. www.lameeceissaq.com
(she/her/hers) is a Brooklyn-based actor. She recently graduated from Boston University with a BFA in acting, and has since been in a short film, performed in a new work at The Tank NYC and has been cast as Hermia in an upcoming production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She is very thankful to be in her first performance with WP Theater and sends all her friends and family much love! www.JackieRomankow.com
is a Cuban-American Theatre Artist based in New York City and is ecstatic to be working with WP Theater. She has primarily worked at The Public Theater on the New York Shakespeare Festival and Under The Radar Theatre Festival. She has also worked with a range of company’s including, Tectonic Theater Project, Chelsea Factory and Boston Playwrights Theater. She received her BFA in Theater Arts: Design & Production from Boston University. She is an Associate Artist at Sanguine Theatre Company and currently freelances as a Stage Manager and Dramaturg.
is a New York City based Lighting Designer. As a Lighting Designer and Assistant she has worked at MTC, Roundabout, The Signature, La Mama Experimental Theater, The Vineyard Theatre, and Stella Adler. She is a proud graduate of Barnard College at Columbia University, and the Juilliard Apprenticeship Program. More info about Liz and her work can be found at lizlights.com.
(SOUND DESIGN & EDITING, he/they) is a New York based interdisciplinary artist. The first generation Trinidadian American aims to give breath to Black people in storytelling and beyond. Interested in the discoveries of what it means to honor a life, Chris is charged to cultivate the exploration of alternate ways to exist, and in turn alternate ways to create. As a dramaturg, visual artist, and designer Chris has serviced devised works and theatrical productions in collaboration with National Black Theater, The Movement Theater Company, Criminal Queerness Festival, The Bushwick Starr, The Atlantic, Long Wharf Theater, Theater for a New Audience., and Playwrights Horizons. Notable sound design credits include Derek Fordjour’s Fly Away at Petzel Gallery, Jeremy O. Harris’s Black Exhibition at Bushwick Starr, and Neptune at Dixon Place and The Brooklyn Museum. Wingspace 2019-2020 Sound Design Fellow. www.darbassiedesign.com
(VIBE CONTRIBUTOR, she/her) is a New York-based theater, screen, and voiceover actress. She is also a casting director for indie animation. Journey is currently earning her BFA in Drama at New York University; she is very grateful for the creative outlet and sisterhood that viBeCompany has provided her with.
(VIBE CONTRIBUTOR, she/her) was born and raised in Far Rockaway, Queens. The second oldest of five girls, Laylanie is currently a health monitor at an after-school Beacon program called Police Athletic League on Far Rockaway’s peninsula, having worked at this program for about six years. It has been a journey of personal growth while experiencing all the age groups. She has a deep desire to put energy, time and love into my community by mentoring and guiding youth and teaching them academics and building relationships to help mold them into their best selves. Laylanie is grateful for being a part of a program that serves the community; gives our young people a safe place to be and have fun. As a part of viBeCompany; she continues to learn the power of speaking her truth no matter how raw it can be. This creative writing and theatre production journey has made her realize just how beautiful, powerful, and authentic art is.
(VIBE CONTRIBUTOR, she/her) was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She attended Junior High School 302 and earned a passion for theatre arts. It started in sixth grade, when she auditioned for the drama club’s musical production of “Grease”. She earned a small role with less than 5 lines and a dance number. This didn’t stop her from pursuing this love for acting, and she eventually worked up to larger roles by the eighth grade. As far as her high school career, Kziana went to a local high school that didn’t focus on the arts due to the fear of not being good enough for acting schools and also not being able to afford them. However, whenever the opportunity came up to perform, she did just that. She participated in almost all of the school’s winter talent shows and either sang or danced with a group of friends. When she applied to college, the love of acting was still there and she majored in Theatre and received her Associates Degree from BMCC in 2018. After taking a semester off, she missed being on stage, as she didn’t take up many opportunities at her first college. She then attended York College in 2019, and is now pursing her Bachelor’s Degree. She will be obtaining it this summer after completing all of her elective courses. She has performed at York College as the lead role in David Mamet’s “Oleanna” in Fall 2019, that helped her score a nomination for a scholarship by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. In 2020, she directed and stage managed two plays for her school’s theatre department. Currently, Kziana is working with a group of friends in writing, acting, and producing their original short film debuting this summer. She is also a performer for ViBe Theater Experience which helps tap into her creative, poetic side that she never pursued. She’s always working on her craft and hopes to win an Oscar for all of her hard work one day.
